Pack up the tent, Bonnaroo faithful. The Manchester, Tenn. music festival isn’t happening this weekend.
Organizers of Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival canceled the four-night event due to intense rainfall from Tropical Depression Ida.
Rain moved in late Monday and continued throughout Tuesday, causing saturated tollbooth paths and flooded campgrounds “to the point that we are unable to drive in or park vehicles safely,” according to a statement from Bonnaroo.
“We are absolutely heartbroken to announce that we must cancel Bonnaroo,” the festival said Tuesday via Twitter. “While this weekend’s weather looks outstanding, currently Centeroo is waterlogged in many areas.”
The statement continued, “We have done everything in our power to try to keep the show moving forward, but [mother nature] has dealt us a tremendous amount of rain over the past 24 hours, and we have run out of options to try to make the event happen safely and in a way that lives up to the Bonnaroo experience.”
Bonnaroo takes place in Manchester, Tennessee, about 70 miles south of Nashville. A flash flood warning remains in effect for Coffee County until 1 a.m. The region expected to get three to six inches of rain from the remnants of Ida.
‘UTTER pain’:Festival-goers distressed after Bonnaroo gets canceled, but some find other plans
Sam Herron, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville, said Tuesday that just under three inches of rain had fallen around the Manchester area.
“Of course it’s still raining down there, so probably another quarter inch of rain is expected to fall into the evening,” Herron said.
This is the second consecutive Bonnaroo to be canceled. 2020’s fest was pushed back three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, then ultimately canceled. When Bonnaroo unveiled plans for a return in 2021, it was for September — marking the first time the festival has ever been scheduled outside of June.
Tickets to 2021 Bonnaroo sold out three weeks after on-sale; headliners for the now-axed event included Foo Fighters, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion and Tyler, The Creator.
Bonnaroo’s post says all tickets purchased through Front Gate Tickets (i.e. directly through the festival) will be refunded “in as little as 30 days to the original method of payment.”
‘Not something we expected to be possible’
While the cancellation came as a shock to many, there were warning signs starting on Sunday, when Bonnaroo announced it would delay its campground opening by a day due to conditions. On Monday, they reported that areas of the campground were rendered “unusable,” and offered refunds to all ticket holders.
As the majority of its audience comes to Bonnaroo from outside of Tennessee (and 55% from beyond the southeast, according to a 2018 poll), Tuesday’s announcement wasn’t enough notice for some.
2021 ticket-holder Josh Petefish got word after driving eight hours with a traveling party of seven people that organizers cancelled Bonnaroo. He planned to join a camping group of 16, including travelers from New York, Minnesota and Colorado, – on The Farm.
Petefish plans to regroup Tuesday night in Nashville, he said. He initially bought tickets for this weekend’s event in 2019.
“We had some expectations that things wouldn’t be quite the same,” said Petefish, 25, of Des Moines, Iowa. “Maybe they would cut people off on a certain day … being totally canceled is not something we expected to be possible.”
He added, “Since we have all this camping gear we’ll find somewhere near here [to camp]. Any recommendations?”
‘Safe and smart’
The cancellation even came as a surprise to those who’d been working on the grounds ahead of the festival — like Jenna Gallegos of Wichita, Kan.
2021 is her fourth year working at Bonnaroo as a volunteer. Her compensation? Free meals and admission to the (now-canceled) festival.
Gallegos said work, including construction of festival areas, was continuing throughout Tuesday.
“Everybody’s really heartbroken,” she said. “Honestly, it came very abruptly. My crew, we were literally working, and then Bonnaroo tweeted out that they canceled and didn’t really tell anybody other than that. So we’re very shocked. I mean, I feel like people are trying to stay in high spirits just because they’re already here.”
Disappointment and sympathy was expressed by performers like Jason Isbell, who was set to return to the festival this weekend.
“I’m sorry y’all had to make this choice but I believe it was the right one,” he wrote on Twitter. “I was really REALLY looking forward to it, but ya gotta be safe and smart. Love to everybody on the crew with a broken heart today.”
“Was really looking forward to my first Roo performance but this hurricane is no joke,” tweeted Nashville rapper Daisha McBride. “Sending love to everyone in its path.”
Bonnaroo ended Tuesday’s announcement with a familiar refrain — confidently asserting their return next year.
